Many things.

I had a birthday. I am now 36. My mother-in-law commented on the amount of gray hair that I have. I know, I know. It's hard enough for me to keep up with getting my hair cut. I'd never keep up with coloring. We took my in-law's with us to Idlewild on Saturday as an anniversary gift to them. We went as a birthday/end of summer celebration for us. We had a great time! We were able to score tickets at Giant Eagle, so we saved $50.00 on admission. That alone was reason to smile! We went to the Story Book Forest, rode the train, went through Mr. Roger's Neighborhood of Make Believe on the trolley, rode a bunch of rides that even my mother-in-law went on (I think we about did her on on the Rollo Coaster.) We stopped for a bite to eat on the way back home and didn't actually land on our doorstep until 12:45 AM on Sunday morning. That's a long day for us! We don't stay up that late.

We did make it to church on Sunday morning. We hadn't been for a few weeks because of K-'s viral funk. It was a great sermon that spoke to my heart about having God at the forefront, not being able to have 2 masters in your life and readjusting priorities. Particularly with work stress, I needed to hear that.

We went to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens for my birthday. Hubs and K- take me every year, and every year EXCEPT this one (thank you!) K- didn't break down and have a horrible fit. We went on a garden tour, were able to be there for the butterfly release, where K- got a few to handle and one flew onto Hubs' head. :)

Much to the dismay of my family unit, we were able to work on the task of getting the Christmas photo done. I drove the in-law's crazy with it the day before and Hubs and K- were slightly annoyed with me today. In the end, I believe that we may have fetched a few contenders. I know that it sounds ridiculous to work on it this early, but Hubs kind of likes a destination type photo and with no vacation this year, this was pretty much our only chance. Hubs understands my artist tendencies, so it is all good. Each one of us have our own obsessive things and the Christmas card photo is one of mine.

I've been battling a little bit of something, as whatever funk I have seems to be blossoming in sores in my mouth. The sore of earlier on in the week that actually gave me an earache went away only to have one crop up on the opposite side of my mouth. This one has part of the roof of my mouth aching with redness. I've had a sore throat today, as well as some swollen glands, but after some Advil and Advil Cold and Sinus, it seems to have calmed down a bit. Both Hubs and I have been battling the mouth sores this week, so we think that maybe K-'s viral funk hit us a little bit. I had a hazy headache for a week, but finally didn't have it today. Perhaps the lightness, but annoyingness of whatever bit of something that I had is disappearing. Hopefully it does along with that huge cold sore in my mouth. Ouch.

We're looking towards the official end of summer. We have our orientation for K- tomorrow night. Mrs. F- is her teacher, but I don't recall her at the registration presentation. I admit that it makes me nervous, as I'll be leaving my child in her care for 6 hours a day/5 days a week. I'm certain that she is well qualified and all that, but I do believe that the orientation will be helpful in my being able to lay my eyes on her, getting to speak with her, finding out a bit more about her and her angle of teaching and how tightly she runs her ship. (No, I realize that this is not a parent/teacher conference, but if I can get 1/4 of my curiosities satisfied, then maybe I'll feel better, yes?) K- will be able to check out her room (magical number 3!) and meet some of her classmates. I'm excited for her, but nervous. I figure that each school year factors in adjustment to new schedules/people and whatnot. Hopefully, K- will do well with her adjustment and be the delightful little girl that I know her to be. Nevermind me. I'll be the mommy doing the deep breathing exercises over here.

Smiles in my weekend:
- A great weekend! Thanks honey and K-!
- Ice cream cake. I know that I used to work at DQ, but I never grow tired of their cakes.
- Being able to check back on the little girl who fell and bonked her head while the kids were waiting for their trolley ride. We ran into her and her family at some games later on in the evening, we were able to confirm that she was okay, though pushed down hard by another little girl. I was able to talk with the mother, who I praised for handling the situation as well as she had. Her daughter was pushed by another child who was neither reprimanded by her mother, nor even made to go to see how the injured child was. The mother said nothing. She didn't even acknowledge the incident. K- was mortified, as she had no idea what to do when she heard the collection of parental gasps when the incident happened. She came, sat with me and she went to check on her temporary playmate. I couldn't speak in detail about the incident until later, as the offender and mom were sitting right next to us in line. It made K-'s heart happy to know that the little girl was okay, as she had brought it up a few times during the day. This way, I know that she can rest well knowing that the playmate will be a-okay.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend! Still spotty this week, because of sending K- off to school. Next week I'll get back to my normal schedule. I promise!